The Littlest Things
by MayaTheKuriboh
Summary: Ellis has always been in love with the girl of his dreams, Zoey. But when she becomes consumed by the negative events in her life, will this dream turn into a nightmare? AU. No zombies.


**AN: I just want to make a quick note here. I don't plan on putting zombies in this story despite it being a Left 4 Dead fic. I mean, I can't promise that, but I really don't plan on it. I just adore this pairing so much, and I want to focus more on that than the apocalypse. I hope that you all still want to read this, lol. I promise in future fics I'll focus more on the zombies. ;)**

…..

He had always been in love with her. The way her laugh sounded, the way her eyes would shine when she was amused, the way that she would smile when she was sad, and the way she would grin when she was happy. He was in love with her hair, which always seemed like it was perfectly silky. He was in love with her lips, which looked like they were being puckered when she was deep in thought. But most of all, he was in love with _her_. All of the little things that formed together to make her perfections and imperfections. Her whole being.

It had started when he was in kindergarden, and she had just moved into town with her parents. The teacher brought her to the front of the class, you could tell just by looking at her face that she was incredibly nervous, and asked her to announce her name. She blushed a little bit and looked down for a few seconds before regaining composure and smiling, facing the other students.

"Zoey."

_Zoey_. Just the way she had said it put butterflies in his stomach. He followed her for the rest of the day, doing whatever she would do. When she went to the lego bin during recess, he asked to play legos with her. She let him sit at her table during snack time, and even shared a piece of her watermelon with him. During clean-up time, he helped her sweep the crumbs off the tables. It was the best day of his five year old life.

And then her mother came to pick her up, making a fuss about how Zoey had messed up her braid. She just smiled and led her over to him, pointing and jumping up and down.

"Mommy, mommy! This is my friend, Ellis!"

"That's very nice, sweetie. We have to go home now, okay?"

The brunette toddler frowned. "But I don't wanna!"

"Hey, Caroline, can I talk to you for a second?" The kindergarden teacher said to the young girl's mother, who responded with a simple 'yeah, sure' and let go of her daughter's hand, walking over to the other side of the room.

"I'm a bit worried about Zoey's teething habit..."

"Does Georgia have a playground?" The girl asked him, making him flash a toothless smile her way.

"There's lots'a playgroun's 'round here! Mama takes me to 'em all the time!" Ellis answered, causing young Zoey to gasp in amazement.

"We only had a couple playgrounds in Pencil-hania." She said, unable to pronounce 'Pennsylvania'. "But my daddy would take me every once in a while."

"I bet'cha have a nice daddy. Does 'e make ya all the cupcakes ya want?"

"He makes me cupcakes when Mommy's not around. She doesn't like me eating junk food."

"What's junk food?"

"All the good stuff."

Ellis opened his mouth in shock. "Like cupcakes?"

She nodded. "And cake, and brownies, and chips, and ice cream-"

"An' cookies, an' pop tarts, an' ice pops, an'-"

"AND SUGAR CUBES, AND ICE CREAM BARS, AND-"

"AN' PIES, AN' CHEESY POOFS, AN'-"

"Ellis, Zoey, what did we read about today during story time?"

The children looked down shamefully. "We read about not yellin' when otha' people are talkin', ma'am." Ellis recited.

"So, no more of that, okay?"

"Oooo-kay." Zoey whined, as she sat down and pouted. The southerner copied her soon after.

"Thanks, Edna, I'll keep it in mind." Zoey's mother, Caroline, said to the teacher.

"She's going to fit in here just fine." The teacher responded, looking to the pouty toddler and smiling. Caroline walked over to her daughter, picking her up on her shoulder and attempting to fix her braid as she walked out of the building to her car.

The two of them would have play-dates nearly every weekend at Ellis's house. Caroline was always concerned with them making their house dirty, and wouldn't allow them to have play-dates there. Ellis's mom, Maggie, made them apple pies and let them play in the mud as much as they wanted. Sometimes Zoey would ask why there was no dad around, to which Maggie would respond that he was watching down on them from the sky.

"But how did he get up in the sky in the first place?" She'd ask, obviously confused by the concept of death. Ellis always felt uncomfortable talking about it, knowing better than she did.

"Well, Zoey, when somebody dies, they turn in'ta an angel an' guard their family up in the sky. Ellis's daddy's in the sky 'cause he died."

"Oh." She said, feeling guilty for saying anything. Then she and Ellis would go off and continue playing made-up games again outside.

When her parents got divorced at the age of 14, he tried to be there for her as much as he could. Whenever he tried to snag a seat next to her at school, the other students would make kissy noises with their mouths and try to push them together, but he only wanted to help her. Listen to what she had to say, if anything. He knew she was upset about it, her eyes didn't twinkle as bright as they used to and her smile always seemed fake. One day, he decided he would write her a note during math class. He scribbled it quickly in slightly sloppy handwriting, hoping the teacher wouldn't notice.

_I'm here if you ever wanna talk about things and stuff_

_-El_

Quickly, when the teacher wasn't looking, he tapped her on the shoulder and threw the paper onto her desk. Her head snapped around the room, confused as to who had alerted her, before seeing the note on her desk. She stared at it for a while, then turned to face him and smiled a little as a response. It wasn't a real smile, though. It was one of her fake plastic smiles that she had learned to put on so well. He flashed a smile back, hoping she could see that it was real.

That night, Ellis looked out of his bedroom window and watched her, like he always did. She would go down to the lake near their houses and just sit there, staring out into the window. He had wondered what she could possibly think about for hours in the middle of the night. She seemed so lost in thought out there, with the moon shining on her. He bit his tongue, arguing with himself about whether he should go outside or not. The clock on the end table next to his bed glowed red, the numbers on it reading 1:30 AM. He knew he was going to regret it later, but...

"Hey"

Zoey jumped, startled by the whisper behind her. She turned to see who was there, her expression changing from shocked back to a state of sorrow, then she turned back and faced the water once more.

"Hi." She whispered back in a monotone voice. His brows furrowed, and he sat down next to her, his feet almost touching the cold water below them.

"I know ya proba'ly don't wanna talk about it, but...I'm real sorry. About what happened with yer parents, an' all."

She stayed silent for a moment, seemingly studying the moon. "Thanks."

They both sat there for a good couple of minutes before she turned her head towards him and studied his face a bit. He gulped, hoping she couldn't see the blush spreading across his face.

"What was it like when your dad died?" She asked finally. He thought for a second before answering.

"Ma was real diffr'int, fer one. She didn't talk a whole lot fer a while, I gotta admit, I was worried 'bout 'er. At first 'ah didn't even really u'nnerstand what'd happened. Just figured he'd gone on'na trip or somethin'." He looked down at the water. "Then Ma tol' me pretty much the same thing she tol' you when you 'wer little. Gosh, ah missed 'im. Still do, a'course, but when it hit me he was gonna be gone forever, I didn't know what I was gonna do."

The wind picked up quickly, howling as it whipped through the trees. Zoey shivered, looking up at the sky.

"Sometimes I miss Pennsylvania weather."

Ellis smiled. Seeing her take her mind off of things made him happy. "I 'unno, it's purty nice when it's warm, dont'cha think?"

She faced him, picking up on his smile and grinning a little bit. "Yeah, it's really nice. I don't like the summers all that much, though. Waaay too hot." She fanned her face as if she was sitting in the weather she was talking about, making Ellis chuckle.

"Aw, come on, Zo. I think the summers ar' real nice."

"Nice? It gets to be, like, ninety degrees!"

"Ya don't think that's nice?"

She shook her head, giggling now. "In whose crazy mind is that considered nice? Any hotter and it would make your skin burn off!"

Ellis humphed jokingly. "Pretteh' nice in 'mah mind, thank ya very much!"

The two shared a laugh as the moon rose higher in the black sky. It must have been at least 2 by now, Ellis thought. His mother was going to kill him if she found out he was out of the house this late. The dirt caught his attention, as he shamefully went over how he figured the conversation of his mother scolding him would go in his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shirt being thrown onto the ground. His eyes bolted up to the girl next to him, who was stripping down to her underwear. His face turned the brightest shade of red and suddenly the ability to speak was being taken from him.

"W-wha, what-"

"Calm down, sheesh. I'm just taking a swim." She said, laughing a bit. She took a scrunchie from her pants pocket before flinging the jeans off and tossing them to the ground. Ellis covered his eyes and looked away as she jumped into the water, splashing him a little. Slowly he raised the fingers away from his face to see the brunette swimming in the lake. She caught his gaze an smiled, splashing him. "Come on, join me. It's not that cold."

"I, b-b-, I-I-"

"I'm going to drag you in here myself if I have to. I hate swimming by myself."

He gulped, running a hand through his hair and feeling how hot his face had become. "'Kay, I guess I'm comin' in, then." He said, sighing, while tossing his shirt off of his back and throwing it on top of Zoey's pile of clothes. He stared at his shorts for a minute before he heard the girl laughing at him from the water.

"Unless you wanna get them wet, you're gonna have to take them off, dude."

He flushed again, running into the bushes so that he had at least some kind of privacy. The last thing he wanted was the girl of his dreams catching a glimpse of his Batman boxers. He silently swore to himself for even coming outside to see her in the first place. _See, El, this is what you get yourself into..._

Then he ran for it, diving into the water and making a big splash. When he came back up out of the water, he was greeted by Zoey who gave him another handful of water in his face.

"See? It's actually pretty warm." She said, swimming backwards on her back. Ellis quickly turned away, gulping again.

"Hey, uh, Zo? Your, uh, your...your..."

"Hm?" She looked down at herself and screeched for a second. "Oh my God, pretend you didn't just see that. I forgot I was wearing white. Oh my God. Oh my God." She said in between laughing, but poor Ellis just hid his face under the water in shame. "This was a bad idea."

"Y-y-yeh." Ellis mumbled in the water, but the only noise that came out was that of gurgled, bubbling water.

"_Zoey_! What the _hell _are you doing!"

"Uh oh. Look away. Look away!" Zoey said, quickly, physically turning the boy's head the other way even though that wouldn't do anything about the angry mom that was storming their way.

"Get _out of there_!" Caroline, who was at the moment very angry and very loud, said. She reached forward and grabbed the girl's ear, making her yelp in pain. "Do you _know_ how late it is? Is it too much to ask to get some _sleep_, Zoey? What is _wrong_ with you?" She kept yelling at her, choosing to emphasize every other word she said. "Where are your clothes? What were you doing?"

"Ma'am..."

"Don't _you_ even, young man. Wait until I tell _your_ mother about this, hm? I don't imagine she'll be too happy!"

"Mom, I was the one who suggested it, not him-"

"I don't care! Get your clothes and get your ass in the house!"

Zoey gave Ellis an apologetic glance before picking up her shirt and pants and sprinting back to the house, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Don't think you're off the hook just because you're not my kid. I'll-"

"Sweet Jesus, Car'a'lin, what's goin' on out here?"

"Why don't you ask your _half naked son_, Maggie?"

The southerner's mother shot him a surprised glance and asked very calmly for him to get out of the lake.

"Ma, I-"

"Now, Ellis. Do it now."

He sighed and held back tears as he slowly yanked himself onto the dirt surface in front of him. He started to shiver as he glanced at the clothes on the ground, hoping to grab them before anyone said anything else.

"Dear Lord, Ellis, what tha' hell were you doin'?"

"We was swimmin' is all! I swear!"

"Is that what they call it now? _Swimming_?"

"Now, now, Car'a'lin. Mah' baby doesn't lie to his own mama. I raised 'im better than that."

Caroline grunted and rolled her eyes, walking back to her house. Ellis kept his head down, waiting for his mother to yell at him. After a minute of silence, he cautiously glanced up.

"Jus' get inside, Ellis. Get yer clothes and git' inside."

"Yes, ma'am."

…..

There were few confrontations between Ellis and Caroline after that night. She no longer allowed Zoey to hang out at his house anymore, and Ellis would often find himself sitting in his room imagining scenarios involving the two of them being able to see each other again outside of school. One night, she made a habit of sneaking into his room at night through his window just to tell him how her day had gone. And he'd sit there, on his bed, next to her, listening to the whole story without ever getting bored of what she had to say.

When they graduated high school, they were separated once more. Ellis ran a mechanic's/auto shop with a couple of his best friends, and Zoey was pressured into going into college by her mother. Her father tried to make the situation better by suggesting that she attend Film School, as opposed to Harvard, which was Caroline's idea.

Every once in a while, she would come home on vacation and visit Ellis's shop just to say hi, and he would get butterflies every time. In November, she knocked on the door to his shop and came in, like always, but this time she had a man with her.

"Hey, El? You there?"

A scruffy looking, dirty man with shoulder-length dark red hair poked his head out from underneath a car he was working on to answer her.

"Nah, he's workin' on someone's car in 'da back."

"Matt, this is Keith." She said to the man she came with, pointing her finger towards the red-head. "He's a friend of mine, and a good friend of Ellis'"

"My, oh my. Miss Zoey, zat'chu?" Keith said, pushing himself off of the platform he was laying on. "Haven't seen ya in months."

Zoey smiled, putting her shoulder on her guest. "This is Matt, my boyfriend. I've been really eager to come down here and introduce everyone to him."

Matt stuck a hand out to shake the mechanic's, who gladly returned the gesture, flashing a smile that showed off a few missing teeth. "Well, well, you went an' gotcha'self a boyfrien'?" He shook his head. "'Ere goes mah' chance."

She laughed and stood on her tip-toes, staring further into the shop. "You sure Ellis isn't free enough to say hi? I want to bring Matty over to the house to meet my mom."

"Well, I shure could check, but I think-"

"Zo?" A softer voice called out from the garage in the back.

"Ellis! Come here, I have someone I want to show you."

Another voice started a conversation with Ellis from the other side of the room.

"Nah, Dave, you take care'ov it. I gotta go meet Zo."

"Ellis, we got, like, so much more 'ta do with this piece'a'shit."

"Just do it 'ya self, then!"

Suddenly, a figure wearing coveralls and a blue and white trucker hat entered the front room with a giant smile on his face. "'Ey, Zoey!"

"This is Ellis." She said, tapping her male companion on the shoulder. The man smiled a bit and held a hand out to the boy, "I'm Matt, Zoey's boyfriend. I've heard a lot about you."

Ellis stared at him for a second before shaking his hand, then running it through his hair quickly. "Didn't know ya had a boyfrien', Zo."

The girl looked a bit embarrassed as she gave a faint smile to her old friend. "We've only been dating for a week or two."

"Oh."

Silence crept its way into the room awkwardly, before Keith cleared his throat and cracked his knuckles. "Well, ah think I'munna go back ta fixin' dis 'ere engine. Real nice seein' ya, Zoey. Don't be a stranger." He said, flashing another toothless smile before heading back to work.

"I think I'm gonna go introduce Matt to my mom. I'll see you later, okay, Ellis?"

The man was still silent, processing what she had been saying to him. "Oh, right. Ah'kay. I'll, uh, see ya, then."

She nodded, taking her man's arm and guiding him back to her car. Ellis watched them drive away without moving from the spot where he was standing.

"Ya missed ya chance, bud."

"I know."

…..

Another month or two passed before Zoey was able to visit Georgia again, but this time it wasn't for vacation. Caroline, who had been diagnosed with cancer, died in the hospital, and Zoey came back to visit her before she passed. About two weeks after she died, Ellis looked out of his bedroom window and saw her sitting outside of the lake for the first time in years. She only sat for a couple of minutes, though, before she started pacing back and forth and biting her lip. Then, she headed towards his window. He panicked, slipping under his covers and pretending he was asleep.

_Tap tap tap_

His eyes shifted to his window, where she was tapping with her fingers. She had obviously had makeup on, as there were black tears painted down her cheeks. There was a nasty looking bruise below her eye, as well. Quickly, he moved to his windowsill and opened it.

"You okay?"

"Can I...can I come in?"

He opened the window as far as it could go and looked directly at her. "You don't even gotta ask."

She slipped through the hole and collapsed on his bed, trying to wipe away some of the tears from her face.

"Zo, I am so so sorry about yer mama." Ellis started, closing his window to prevent any bugs from entering.

"I didn't even, I didn't get to..." She sniffled, covering her eyes. "She just died. I didn't get to say I love you or anything, I..."

"S'alright, let it out." He said, rubbing circles into her back. She dug her face into one of his pillows and started sobbing violently. After a good, long, cry, she turned to her head to the side and Ellis couldn't help but notice the bruise on her face. "What happen'd ta you?"

She sniffled again, shaking her head. "It's nothing. That was nothing."

"That ain't nuttin', Zoey."

"Nothing happened."

"Please don't lie 'ta me."

Silently, she stared into the wall, another tear forming in her eye. "I just got in a little fight with Matt, okay?"

"I knew that guy was nuttin' but trouble." He mumbled, clenching his fists. Zoey noticed this gesture and got up a bit from the bed.

"It wasn't his fault, El, don't do anything."

"Listen to yourself! You've gott'a purhpl' cheekbone an' ya gonna tell me it wadn't 'is fault?"

The girl fell back down on the bed, starting to cry again. "What's wrong with me?"

"Now, you listen 'ta me, there ain't a single thing wrong with ya."

"No, I mean, this situation. Everything around me has been falling apart and all I can do is cry. I'm not helping anyone. I'm not even helping myself."

Neither of the two said anything, letting her words sink in. Eventually she shifted on the bed and took a deep breath. "Mom left me the house in her will."

Ellis raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to take it?"

"Of course." She looked at him hard. "All of my friends live here. I've lived here almost my whole life. There's no way I'm getting rid of it, no matter how old it is." She paused and took another breath. "And, I'm dropping out of college."

"What? Why?"

"I hate it. I hate work. I hate my roommate. It sucks." She sat up now. "I miss my life. Here. This is where I belong."

He stared into her bright green eyes and searched to see if she was telling the truth, which he desperately hoped she was. Because, truthfully, he could have spent all night with her sitting on his bed, rubbing her back and making her feel better. And, maybe, if she had let him, it would have distracted them from the figure standing near the lake, holding a pan in one hand and a beer in the other. But instead they just sat there, content, until she noticed him. Then she started quivering and hiding in the southerner's shoulder and saying she was sorry.

_She doesn't deserve this. Nobody deserves this._

That's what he told himself as he walked up to the man, confronting him. He was going to give this guy the beating of a lifetime for what he did to his Zoey, that was for sure. He was going to-

_CLONK!_

And then the world went black.

…..

**AN: So! There's the prologue! I hope this ends up being a long story, because I had fun writing it. Again, sorry there's no zombies. I'm a sucker for ZoeyxEllis fics. :P**

**Remember to check on my profile to see what I'm currently working on writing! And please leave a review if you liked it. Thanks!**

**~Maya**


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